Bethesda Defends The Elder Scrolls Online’s $15 Subsciption Fee

Given the success of the The Elder Scrolls franchise, especially with Skyrim, many gamers are probably looking forward to getting their hands on The Elder Scrolls Online. The game is currently set for a release on the 4th of April, while the Xbox and PS4 version of the game will be released a few months later.

Interesting Bethesda will be adopting a subscription model for the MMORPG where they will be charging gamers $15 a month to play the game. This is in light of the current trend where developers opt for a free-to-play model where gamers will be able to play the game for free, but charge for in-game items, such as armor, or services to help them progress in the game.

With gamers getting used to the free-to-play model, naturally not everyone was pleased by this piece of news, but Bethesda’s Pete Hines has come forward and defended the model in a recent interview with Gamespot.

According to Hines, he believes that by paying a subscription, gamers will be getting their money’s worth. “We feel pretty strongly about the support we’re going to have for the game and what you’re going to get for those dollars. We’re also very confident in our ability to support it with content.”

Hines later adds, “It is a massive, ‘Go where you want, do what you want’ game that we think offers the kind of experience that’s worthy of a subscription. We want to do the version that we think is the best game and the coolest experience. And that means putting a lot of people and a lot of content creators towards having stuff that comes our regularly; every four weeks, five weeks, six weeks.”

So why not adopt a free-to-play model? After all by taking away the price of the subscription, barriers to entry of playing the game would be lowered, which in turn could lure more players looking to give the game a shot. However Hines felt that by adopting that model, it would have lessened the overall experience of the game.

It should be noted that PC gamers will have to pay $15 a month, while Sony will be waiving the PlayStation Plus fee. Microsoft on the other hand has not announced anything yet, which means that gamers will need a subscription to Xbox Live Gold on top of the game’s monthly subscription.

What do you guys think? Are you happy that The Elder Scrolls Online will be going with an older payment model, or would you rather it be free-to-play?